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Elden Ring reigns supreme as the best-selling video game of 2022 in the United States and conquers June's top 10 sales charts.

Followed by a monumentally powerful launch, Elden Ring has become one of the most successful games Bandai Namco and FromSoftware have ever made, amassing 13.4 million sales in roughly four months (these figures exceeded the publisher's estimates by over 200%).

Now months after launch, the game is still doing incredibly well. According to the NPD Group, Elden Ring is the best-selling game in the United States year-to-date in 2022 and ranked #1 in June 2022's top-sellers. It's important to note that four Call of Duty games were on the top 10 list and history tells us Elden Ring will probably get dethroned once Modern Warfare II releases in October.

Electronic Arts is reportedly retiring BioWare Points in October 2022, and has now made all smaller add-on content in games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect free for PC gamers.

If you own legacy Dragon Age and Mass Effect games on Origin, you might want to boot the launcher back up to claim some free DLC. According to new reports, BioWare and EA are removing BioWare Points from the Origin storefront later this year. The content that required these points is now free, and larger DLC expansions are now exclusively bundled together for BioWare titles.

The free content includes smaller-scale DLC like miscellaneous bonus packs for alternate appearances, weapons, armors, and specific missions in Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age II, and Mass Effect 2 & 3.

Fall Guys appears to be the fastest-growing free-to-play game on the market with a significant surge in players.

Weeks ago, Fall Guys went free-to-play and racked up some serious numbers. The party game actually grew faster than mega-hits like Call of Duty Warzone, Fortnite, and Apex Legends, all billion-dollar trendsetters that transformed the industry.

Mediatonic recently confirmed that Fall Guys had amassed 50 million players in just two weeks, growing faster than some of the most popular F2P games ever made. For reference, it took both Warzone and Apex Legends about 4 weeks to to hit 50 million players, and Fortnite hit the 45 million player mark after 16 weeks. It's worth mentioning games like Fortnite (2017), Apex (2019) and Warzone (2020) helped open the doors for Fall Guys' success and opened the door to this newer, instantly-accessible monetized consumer market.

Sony has told shareholders and investors that its multi-billion Bungie acquisition deal has been approved earlier than expected, and will be recorded as an expense in FY22.

Today Sony officially confirmed that its Bungie buyout deal has closed. Bungie is now part of PlayStation's first-party studios and will bring its live service expertise to help lead Sony into a new era of online live games.

Sony also filed a new 6-K SEC filing to alert investors of the acquisition. In the document, Sony says the deal closed for $3.7 billion and that the acquisition was approved quicker than expected. The deal was originally planned to close by December 2022, during Sony's Q3 period, but has instead been approved during Q2. Sony won't pay $3.7 billion for Bungie all at once, and the payments will be deferred over multiple years across different terms (for example, Sony is offering a $1.2 billion employee retention incentive).

Sony's $3.6 billion buyout of Bungie has completed, and the studio is now part of the first-party PlayStation studios brand.

It's official: Bungie is a first-party PlayStation studio. "The agreement to acquire Bungie has closed. So now we can officially say... welcome to the PlayStation family, Bungie!" Sony's PlayStation account said.

Bungie will be one of Sony's most important studios and will help lead PlayStation into a new era of live service games. Sony wants to ship 12 live games by 2025, and Bungie will be instrumental in helping plan these games out; Sony has said it wants to "fully integrate Bungie expertise in all SIE processes," however Bungie will retain full creative freedom in the games it developers and publishes.

The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has announced that Instagram is testing a new subscription service that allows creators to monetize their followers.

Mosseri took to his personal Instagram account to announce that the new subscription service that has been in testing since January 2022 will be getting an expansion of features. For those who don't know, Instagram has tested a subscription service similar to OnlyFans or Patreon, where followers can pay for access to a creator's exclusive content. In January, the service was only being tested on ten creators but has now rolled out to more than 10,000 creators.

Researchers are preparing to present new research that shows a team-up effort between human and artificial intelligence.

The new research will be presented by Dr. Mike Walmsley from the University of Manchester and the Galaxy Zoo Collaboration at the National Astronomy Meeting sometime this week. Notably, the researchers describe this joint approach between AI and humans as a "cyborg". Reports indicate that Walmsley used a decade of Galaxy Zoo measurements to create a new AI algorithm named Zoobot, which is capable of identifying key markers that indicate a chaotic event throughout a galaxy's lifetime.

Human volunteers currently look through the Galaxy Zoo website and identify these markers, but due to the size of the universe and all of the variables within it, humans have more work on their hands than they can carry. To be able to draw a conclusive line between one chaotic event and the galaxy that caused it requires a lot of humans to sift through thousands of images. This is where Zoobot comes in.

NASA's $10+ billion James Webb Space Telescope is up and running, with the space agency already releasing the first batch of colored images.

Now that Webb is ready for scientific operations, astronomers and researchers are sitting on the edge of their seats to see what Webb will be pointed at next and what it will be able to produce with its next-generation instruments. In a recently published article in The Conversation, Silas Laycock, a Professor of Astronomy, at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, explained the importance of Webb's potential and the treasure trove of data the new observatory has already gathered.

Laycock explains that the first image released by NASA showcases a galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723, which is located approximately 5.12 billion light-years from Earth. Laycock says that the large white galaxies located in the center of the image are similar in age to the Sun and the Earth. Surrounding the galaxies in the center are more galaxies that appear stretched or contorted.

Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, who is 76 years old, has revealed he had a baby girl with his 35-year-old stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout.

Errol Musk spoke to The Sun and explained that he believes that humans were put on the Earth for one reason, to reproduce. The sentiment from Errol Musk speaks to his son's highlighting of the declining birthrates and push for more people to have children as it was recently revealed that Musk had twins with a top Neuralink executive. Errol says that the pregnancy with Jana was "unplanned" and that they aren't living together due to the age gap of 41 years.

For those that don't know, the Musk dynasty is continuing to grow, with Elon already having ten children and his father now having seven. Notably, Errol already had a child with Jana in 2017, a now 5-year-old boy named Elliot Rush. According to the New York Post, Elon and Errol had a falling out when Elon discovered that Errol had a child with Elon's stepsister. In the recent interview with The Sun, Errol admitted that the family still doesn't like it.

The world's largest NFT marketplace has fired 20% of its staff following a crypto market downturn and wider economic problems.

The news comes from OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer, who took to Twitter and Discord to explain that the company will be letting go 20% of its staff and that each employee fired from their position will receive a "generous severance". Notably, Finzer says that the reality OpenSea is facing is a "crypto winter" and broad "macroeconomic instability," which references rising interest rates, the war in Ukraine, and more factors that are causing fear, uncertainty, and doubt to plague the global economy.

TechCrunch has learned that 230 employees will be let go from OpenSea and that all of those employees will receive health insurance "into 2023", as well as 12 weeks of severance. Finzer explains that OpenSea has made the decision to run leaner to give it "multiple years of runway" that will, according to Finzer, put the company in a position to bear the weight of crypto winter scenarios presenting themselves. Adding, "Winter is our time to build".

Energy authorities have requested Texas residents to reduce energy consumption to prevent blackouts following temperatures of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

A Texas heatwave has caused a major strain on the electricity grid, causing state energy officials to ask Texas residents to reduce energy consumption to stop blackouts and power outages. Notably, Bitcoin mining companies have voluntarily halted operations, which has freed up approximately 1,000 megawatts of power, per the Texas Blockchain Council. The volunteer halting of mining operations has given back 1% of the grid's total electricity capacity.

Furthermore, Lee Bratcher, the president of the Texas Blockchain Council, said there are also other reasons that miners are stopping operations as the price of electricity severely increases when there is high demand. According to Bloomberg, cryptocurrency miners in Texas have increased energy costs by up to 6 gigawatts by the middle of 2023.

NVIDIA is waiting and watching to see what AMD can accomplish with its upcoming RDNA 3-based GPU architecture and its flagship Navi 31-based Radeon RX 7000 series graphics card.

So much so that it will be holding back the power on its GeForce RTX 4090, preparing a 600W beast, if RDNA 3 can fight for the next-gen GPU performance crown, according to the latest from Tom @ Moore's Law, who says that NVIDIA will launch AD102 in 450W first in October, and wait to see how Navi 31 performs for AMD once RDNA 3 is released.

If the flagship Navi 31-based Radeon RX 7000 series GPU can actually beat NVIDIA and its new GeForce RTX 4090 -- which should be twice as fast as the GeForce RTX 3090, just to refresh you -- then NVIDIA is ready with a more powerful AD102 GPU with up to 600W that would launch as the GeForce RTX 4090 Ti.

NVIDIA is in a pickle... they have got their AIB partners with warehouses filled with older-gen Turing, and even Pascal-based GeForce RTX series graphics cards and they have forced NVIDIA's hand into helping them get rid of the older-gen cards before the launch of the next-gen cards in a few months.

In a new video, Tom @ Moore's Law is Dead says that his AIB sources are pissed over the situation, and are threatening their next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU allocation -- so, effectively they're willing to give up how many Ada Lovelace GPU dies to them over another AIB if NVIDIA don't help them get rid of old stock -- which is a big, big move.

The AIB sources explained: "This month we told NVIDIA to go pound sound. We don't want to buy anymore Ampere or Turing stock until we liquidate our existing warehouses. At this point we're even willing to risk Lovelace allocation if they threaten us". They in that situation, being NVIDIA.

Intel's upcoming Arc A750 graphics card has been taken -- I'm sure in a sealed suitcase -- to the offices of Gamers Nexus. Check it out:

In the video, we get an explanation from Tom "Free Tom" Peterson (ex-NVIDIA, now at Intel) and Ryan Shrout (ex-PC Perspective, now at Intel) arrived to hang out with Steve "Tech Jesus" Burke at the Gamers Nexus offices, which I still haven't visited. Anyway, it shows off the lower-end Intel Arc A380 through to the higher-end Intel Arc A750 graphics card.

Intel's upcoming Arc A750 Limited Edition graphics card might have been teased, but no specifications have been confirmed by Intel just yet. Intel has said that the launch of these new Arc desktop GPUs is "sooner than we think", but I don't trust anything they say just yet. What we do know about the Intel Arc A750 is that it features 24 Xe-Cores and 12GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit memory bus.

Apple designer Jony Ive is officially finished with the company, after leaving back in 2019 to form his own design firm... Apple became one of his biggest clients, until now.

Jony Ive's own design firm is called LoveFrom, with clients that include Ferrari -- and until now, Apple -- but sources close to The New York Times say that Apple and Ive have agreed to end their partnership. The two companies had a multi-year contract, where LoveFrom reportedly made over $100 million.

The contract was up for renewal but it seems both parties didn't want to move on, with The New York Times sources saying that there were executives inside of Apple that were concerned with how much money they were handing over to Ive and his design firm. On top of that, other Apple staffers were pissed that designers were defecting from Apple to LoveFrom, not a good thing for Ive, or Apple.

We are all waiting with massive amounts of anticipation for NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU architecture and forthcoming GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards... but before that, we have something interesting.

NVIDIA's second-fastest Ampere flagship GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card has had a custom BIOS installed, to see how it would perform with less memory, and on a slower memory bus. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3090 has 24GB of GDDR6X which was reduced to 20GB and 12GB in different tests, as well as its memory bus being dropped.

For the 20GB test, PRO Hi-Tech dropped down to a 320-bit memory bus, while for the 12GB test the memory bus was dropped to 192-bit. This reduced the memory bandwidth from NVIDIA's usual 936GB/sec on the GeForce RTX 3090 down to 780GB/sec with 20GB + 320-bit memory bus, and just 468GB/sec with 12GB + 192-bit memory bus.

Intel has just announced its new Intel Innovation event for September 27-28, 2022 where we'll se the company hosting tech sessions, demos, workshops, and I'm sure... some new product announcements.

The new 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" CPUs are expected to be unveiled and possibly launched at the event, but Intel will be highlighting AI (artificial intelligence), client, cloud, accelerated computing, IoT, 5G networks, security, and so much more.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger will be there in person, as well as Intel CTO Greg Lavender: each with their own keynotes at the Intel Innovation event. Intel will be livestreaming the keynote, so if you want to check out Intel Innovation when it kicks off... at least you won't need to be there. The last time Intel did this was their Intel Innovation event in October 2021, where we were introduced to the Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPUs.

Sony is a bit late to the party with its new PlayStation Stars loyalty initiative and is taking direct cues from Microsoft's gaming ecosystem.

Sony's new PlayStation Stars program is the digital equivalent of earning tickets at an arcade to trade in for prizes. This is something that has existed on Xbox some time with the robust Microsoft Rewards program, which has been masterfully integrated into Xbox LIVE and Game Pass in the form of a unique Quests system. The ethos is simple: "Earn points for what you already do on Xbox, then redeem your points on real rewards. Play more, get rewarded."

PlayStation Stars is pretty much the same. Gamers sign up, complete challenges or unlock in-game content (e.g. get a trophy, complete a mission, beat a game, etc) and earn Stars for a digital piggy bank. The Stars are a kind of non-value currency similar to the old Microsoft Points, and they can then be traded in for rewards like PlayStation Store funds and actual products.

If you miss the claustrophobic stress of Alien Isolation, you may want to pay attention to this new project.

A new Alien game is currently in development from VR developer Survios (The Walking Dead Onslaught, Westworld Awakening), the studio today announced. The new Alien title being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and targeting consoles, PC, and VR headsets, and will be singleplayer adventure centered around tension, terror, and action.

"Survios is embarking on a new collaboration with 20th Century Games to develop an intense single-player, action horror game set in the iconic Alien universe," the announcement reads.

Nintendo has purchased Dynamo Pictures, Inc, a CGI production company that helped with Kingsglaive Final Fantasy XV, the PIKMIN short films, and the new Ghost in the Shell TV show.

Nintendo has ambitious plans to start creating its own TV shows and films while bolstering the cinematic scenes featured in its games. The company today announced that it has purchased 100% of all remaining shares in Dynamo Pictures, a Japanese studio known for its animation, motion capture, and computer graphics.

In the past, Dynamo has worked on a multitude of projects but will now exclusively focus on Nintendo's mighty arsenal of franchises. "Upon closing of the acquisition, the company name Dynamo pictures is expected to be changed to Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd. to focus on development of visual content utilizing Nintendo IP," Nintendo said in a press release.